It was kind of obvious who had done the reno in that house. There are three big, or at least well-known flipping companies in Richmond. Fortunately, they went with the one of the three that isn't declaring bankruptcy and being sued by a dozen people. It's the one group I have heard actually does a decent job.

But that house is everything that people would warn you about. It's the most expensive house on that block by far. And you are paying for someone else's design and that design is more for the house to sell than to cater to anyone's taste. You can always replace the tub, cabinet, stove, bathroom tile, etc. I'm not saying it's cheap, but it's going to be cheaper than the $100k that just added to the price and you can get it done your way.

It's one of those rapidly gentrifying areas that is all crazy now because of the housing market. I'm sure y'all have them, too. You walk down the street and the houses are like $150k, $190k, small house turned 4 unit rental, probably a trap house, rental, $220k, brand new $400k flip, definitely a trap house, extremely sketchy vacant lot.

I'll give them this: that is an area that I think is kind of cool and I root for it. It was an old streetcar suburb with a nice park that fell into a bad state where the park had needles everywhere and people were always getting shot. It's somewhat historically black. Not going back a long way, but to the 70's maybe because well.. it's poor and white flight. But there's a road that goes through there with a lot of storefront and the community there has been somewhat active recently about fixing it up. They've gotten some cool hipster places in there, but unfortunately a bunch of them have also closed.

So I could see how like maaaybe the city planner dude was like "Yeah, you know what? I want to help and be a part of the community so I'm going to live in a not-so-eliteish place and fix this neighborhood." Except then they bought a gaudy $430k house that costs more than the houses in the elite-ish neighborhoods they were looking at.

These new Queer Eye episodes came out just in time. I needed to get some stuff done.

The episodes arenít that good this time around. Which is actually good in a backwards way as it makes them more motivating than entertaining. I find one episode is basically enough to drive me to one half hour to an hour of work. So... watch an ep., clean bathroom...watch an ep., clean bedroom, etc.

The thing that gets me going is the part in every episode where they show dudeís clothes all on the floor or he is wearing cargo pants and a tee and Iím like ahaha thatís just like me....wait, thatís not good.

This is as much a "TV" question as it is a "sports" question, but has anyone else noticed that the soccer offerings on the Fox Soccer Plus channel has dropped off significantly this season? It looks like all they show nowadays is the Bundesliga, and then National Rugby League and Aussie Rules Football... ad nauseam...

Seemingly gone are the broadcasts (and same day replays in the evening) of Champions League and Europa League. Which really sucks.

Turner Sports bought the rights to the Champions and Europa League this year. You have to subscribe to something to see all the matches. I think literally the only Europa League match that will even be shown on cable TV is the championship. Only about 1/4 of Champions League matches will be on the smiling side of the pay wall. It's a terrible model and I hope it fails miserably.

Dammit we have gotten suckered into yet ANOTHER season of "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here." We really only decided to watch it this year because the hated (ex-Saints manager) Harry Redknapp is one of the "celebrities" and we were all set to vote that fucker for every Bushtucker Trial and then damn, he's actually really funny and self-deprecating and enjoys having the piss taken out of him and now we hate him slightly less.

I didn't love this, but I did love how it is very different than everything on right now. I don't even know what is going on most of the time, and I am too stupid for most of the allegorical meaning. But something being differential and enjoyable is largely enough for me. I did think the very, very end was a bit out of character, but eff it. I enjoyed it a good bit and would watch a second season. Even if Justin Theroux is back hamming it up.

SHARP OBJECTS (HBO): 7

Similar to MANIAC, although we've seen this slow, Southern gothic thriller before. We have also seen this ham-fisted "romance" between a troubled lady and a cop before. I think I would've liked this so much more without the sex, tbh. I just don't know where that got us, really, besides I guess upping the emotional stakes between main detective guy and Amy Adams' character. It was also about 1 episode too long. The very, very end also was... a bit too quick on the reveal. I guess it was supposed to take your breath away, and it does. But the way it just ends, while exhilirating, also makes it a bit unsatisfying.

THE GOOD PLACE, Season 3 (NBC / Hulu): 7

The least funny season yet. We transitioned into a "lesson of the week" show in the middle 3 episodes, bordering on MY NAME IS EARL territory, which I really didn't like. Ted Danson, Janet, and the philosophy professor are BY FAR the best part of this show, which is why lengthy subplots featuring wealthy British lady and stupid Jacksonville guy make it tough for me to get through. And Kristen Bell is Kristen Bell, enjoyable and solid always.

I liked where they are going next though, and will definitely be back.

BASKETS, Season 2 (Hulu): 6

This was the season that ended with Louie Anderson buying the rodeo. So now I've got to get into Season 3, which seems like a great direction to take the show. Very much looking forward to it. There aren't a ton of laughs in this show, but the ones that are there are really great.

DOGS (Netflix): 8

Episode 1 has a strong Miami Valley connection, and features a lot of very good dogs, and even more great kids. This is not the equivalent of watching a lot of Youtube dog videos, it's a real documentary series about the human-dog connection... but it feels even better than binging cute puppy videos. What a bunch of good boys and girls. If you like dogs, yes you should watch this. I've only seen episode 1, and I understand there is at least 1 intense episode out of the 6.

I've got Hulu now, because they had a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale of 99 cents a month for a year, so I couldn't pass that up. So I'll probably be sprinkling in some MIGHTY BOOSH because I've never seen that all the way through. I watched the very first episode the other day, which... if this was the pilot, someone was asleep at the wheel. Between the kangaroo boxing match and a separate training match with an adult and a small child. Yeah, I have missed a lot here.

The least funny season yet. We transitioned into a "lesson of the week" show in the middle 3 episodes, bordering on MY NAME IS EARL territory, which I really didn't like. Ted Danson, Janet, and the philosophy professor are BY FAR the best part of this show, which is why lengthy subplots featuring wealthy British lady and stupid Jacksonville guy make it tough for me to get through. And Kristen Bell is Kristen Bell, enjoyable and solid always.

I still have a few episodes left in this season, but I agree with you that Ted Danson is really amazing and I have enjoyed how the show has almost shifted its focus onto him as the episodes have chugged along. That kind of transition is always fun to watch. My wife loved Janet in the first season so she's been a favorite ever since!

The Middle School, Teddy Perkins and Paper Boi in the woods episodes really elevate this to a 10. Tracy, the new guy, was also comedic gold. "No chase" policy is something I have some peripheral experience with and it exists. I was looking back through the episdoes to see if there is a clunker, and there really isn't. MAYBE the New Year's Eve "Drake" episode is the weakest, but it still had a lot of great moments.

That's the thing about this show, all the little moments are written so well. The part where Earn gets the text that his $8,000 in mall gift cards will expire in "20 minutes. Maybe 10." The whole thing with the crazy fangirl. The breakdown of Earn and Van's relationship.

I lived the "FUBU" episode, by wearing some knockoff sneakers at one point in 7th-9th grade. Kids were so brutal about it too. It hit too close to home, almost, to watch comfortably. The panic that Earn has that whole episode just rings so true.

LOVED it. If you haven't seen it, you should start from Season 1. Season 2 is fairly dark, but very rewarding and enjoyable.